Improved clothes-washer



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TO ALL WHOM IT ,MAY CONCERN Be it known that L FnEDERICK ERNST, of the city of San Francisco, and county of San Francisco, in the State of California, llave-'invented a new and useful Method of Washing Fabrics by Hydraulic Displacement; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable any person skilled in theA art or science to which it" most nearly appertains to make and use the said invention Without furtherfinvrention or experiment.

The Object 0f my invention is to provide a washing apparatus vfor cleansing clothes by hydraulic displacement, so that very little handling and no rubbing are necessary. This is accomplished by providing an implement -of'metal or Wood, near the bottom of which is placed a sieve or screen, upon which the clothes to be washed are placed together with the usual substances applied in washing, as soap, Snc. The vessel is then filled with water and heated until it boils, after which it is drawn olf by a cock near the bottom, a partial vacuum being formed bythis operation, the solution will be forced through the lower screen by hydraulic pressure, and the clothes will be thereby gradually and thoroughly cleansed. To4 more fully explain my invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, of which- Figure 1 is a side sectional-view.

Figure 2 is a. top view. i

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in cach of tbe drawings.

A is a cylinder, of copperor any other metal, having a cover, B. Near the bottom of this cylinder is the sieve or screen C, standing upon the legs a a a, or elevated above the bottom by other devices, so as to leave an air or water-vacuum beneath it. Upon this are to be placed the clothes to be washed, together with the usual substances for cleansing. After boiling for the requisite time another movableV screen is placed'on the top of the clothes for the purpose of pressing them-downtowards the lower sieve. The apparatus, in which the clothing to bewashed is placed, is filled witlrwatel, which is allowed to boil the usual time, or until the clothes are freed from dirt, when the noch E is opened and the water allowed to escape. When this is completed clean water is introduced at the top and again drawn olf by the cock, vand so on until the clothes are thoroughly cleansed, which is performed without handling or rubbing, as by the usual method employed for the purpose. The lower sieve being placed on standards, and elevated above the bottom of the vessel, and the clothing placed upon it, and the top sieve or perforated disk placed upon the clothing, holds the pieces to be washed between stationary and movable perforated plates, and by suddenly drawing the water from the vessel by means of the cock, which should be of greater discharging capacity than that of the lower sieve, a water or air-vacuum is formed, by which means, and the atmosphere above the clothes, hydraulic displacement is accomplished, and the water is forced out through every part of the fabrics, escaping by the cock, and leaving the clothes clean between the two sieves or perforated plates. The time of boiling, and `the nature and proportions of the dirt-dissolving substances, as lalso the quantity of clean water to be introduced after boiling, will of course depend upon the texture and nature of the clothes which are-to be treated, and their degree of uncleanness.

Having thus described my invention, I do not confine myself to any specific shape or size of vessel for accomplishing the above-described object; but what I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Placing the ,fabrics to be washed between perforated plates or sieves C and D,; in a closed vessel of any Ysuitable construction, so that a vacuum, F, may be created beneath the lower plate, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal. i

F. ERNST. [L 8.]

Witnesses:

Cues. UzNAY, C. W. M. SMITH. 

